the portal opens, would you go through?

[Hida Bukkorosu]

ok here's what happens. a magical portal opens in your bedroom. a voice comes from the portal informing you that it is a portal to Faerun/Krynn/Oerth/Eberron/insertyourworldhere. you may take your significant other and children through with you, but no one else. you will be de-aged to 15 (base adulthood age) if you don't have kids, or 22 if you do, with the kids being deaged to about 5 years old.

would you go through?

 

[EricNoah]

No. For all my love of fantasy and pretending to have adventures, real adventures usually are uncomfortable at best and deadly at worst. Plus, I'm usually DM -- I like adventures best when I am in control of how they turn out.

 

[Turanil]

ok here's what happens. a magical portal opens in your bedroom. a voice comes from the portal informing you that it is a portal to Faerun/Krynn/Oerth/Eberron/insertyourworldhere. you may take your significant other and children through with you, but no one else. you will be de-aged to 15 (base adulthood age) if you don't have kids, or 22 if you do, with the kids being deaged to about 5 years old.

would you go through?

Since I am 42, being deaged back to 15, BUT keeping all my current knowledge, experiences and abilities intact, would be a great thing. However, I probably don't want to go live in a Faerun/Krynn/Oerth/Eberron world despite loving to play. On the other hand, I would be certainly tempted to go into a sci-fi world like Transhuman Space or Star-Wars. The problem is that all my current knowledge, experiences and abilities would be probably useless in such a place, and who would pay for my living costs and studies until i am old and experienced enough again to get a job of my own?

 

[Umbran]

After watching Sam haul Frodo's butt up the side of Mount Doom, no. As Samwise tells us, fantasy adventures sound nice as stories, but they are no fun to actually live through. Adventures are things you do because they are necessary or fruitful.

Plus, even in FR or another fantasy world, most of the folk are simply commoners, so I'd most likely just be another commoner or expert. They don't have adventures, and have a lower standard of living than I do now. What's the attraction in that?

Now, instead if you tell me that there's a high-risk but high-reward endeavor in the real world in which I might take part - the first Mars colony, or the first generation ship to another star, for example - I'd be highly tempted.

 

[Nightfall]

Not under those conditions. Now if I came into Scarn as Bl'ayne Nightfall as presented in Shelzar, that might be different story.

 

[Wombat]

**twitchtwitch**

Be 15 again?

By all the powers, NO!

I hated being that age...

If I could opt for being, say, 25-30, that would be alright, but never 15...

 

[Sado]

Since I am 42, being deaged back to 15, BUT keeping all my current knowledge, experiences and abilities intact, would be a great thing.

Just for consideration, though, with the knowledge you have of the modern age, you could conceivably rise to a position of respect and/or power. It could make for a relatively comfortable existence.

 

[Chimera]

Into my own Homebrew world? If I could chose the time/year and place, perhaps. Depending on money. If I can go with a thousand or more silver dollars, maybe. If not, no. It would also depend on whether or not I had the talent/power to be a Wizard or Psion or something like that, since in my world, these are rare genetic gifts, not something open to just anyone.

Otherwise...

Ok, so you're 15, have no real skills for that world, no money. I'd have to assume you can speak at least one language, or you're doubly screwed. At best you have a bunch of vague (or perhaps not so vague) knowledge of the world at large, but no real knowledge of the details of living in that place.

Seems like you're screwed. How do you get any training in anything? How do you make money? At best you can join the town militia or something, or sign on with a trading company (since most of us have at least some knowledge of math and such), but otherwise you're just Joe Peasant.

As others have said, when the reality of living in the place hits you, you find it quite a bit different than the imagination.

 

[Halivar]

It all depends. If I'm going to Faerun or Oerth, heck yeah, I'm going to make piles of platinum inventing the airplane, the combustible engine, and toothpaste. Being the richest man in Faerun (or Oerth), I'll buy a noble title and marry an elven princess.

If, on the other hand, the portal leads to CoC... well... no. Unless I get to go as an M&M character with immunity to fear.

And under no no no NO circumstances do I want to go to Sigil, Midnight, or Ravenloft.

 

[Umbran]

the combustible engine

Because sooo many people want an engine that they can burn when they are done with it?

Honestly, though, the internal-combustion engine needs a lot of other technologies backing it up. The metallurgical needs alone are pretty darned impressive. You can't pound one out of ore with a hammer, you know. And the airplane requires the internal combustion engine first...

Toothpaste, however, you're free to work on. Good luck with making it taste reasonable without modern artificial sweeteners